Intrusive Effects of Task Irrelevant Semantic Information on Visual Selective Attention

选择性注意涉及到从环境中动态搜索和选择与当前目标相关的信息的非凡能力。人类认知系统如何做到这一点是认知科学的一个基本问题。考虑到人类有意识地感知到什么，最终取决于注意力被引导到哪里，理解注意力机制是揭示支持有意识意识的神经机制的重要的第一步。在空间任务中，物理特征，如空间位置或物体外观，可以引导注意力选择，这一点早已被证实。这些研究人员将研究在多大程度上注意力会被一个与手头的空间定向任务无关的视觉项目不经意地抓住，如果这个项目恰好在语义上与最近经历的事情相关。研究小组将调查关于在试图视觉定位某物的过程中发生这种类型的注意力入侵的潜在机制的假设。为了进一步了解基本机制，研究小组还将使用神经成像来检查视觉系统中哪个神经阶段发生这种入侵效应。了解是什么吸引了视觉注意力，以及为什么会吸引视觉注意力，可能会有重要的实际应用，比如更好地设计平板电脑、智能手机或电脑等设备上的动态、交互式视觉显示。拟议的研究项目旨在测试一组关于场景的高级属性对注意选择的影响的新颖预测。一个主要目标是严格检验任务无关的语义信息通过直接作用于基于空间和对象的表征来限制注意选择的假设：与最近看到的东西在语义上相关的任务无关的对象更有可能被注意。预测将使用现实世界的场景和现实世界的对象进行测试。除了严谨的行为实验旨在理解与任务无关但语义启动的刺激对注意力产生侵入性影响的机制外，研究人员还将使用神经成像方法来检验关于在人类视觉系统的哪个阶段产生影响的假设。

Selective attention involves the remarkable ability to dynamically search for and select information from the environment that is relevant for the current goal. How the human cognitive system achieves this is a fundamental question in cognitive science. Given that what humans consciously perceive will, ultimately, depend on where attention is directed, understanding attentional mechanisms is an important first step toward revealing the neural mechanisms that support conscious awareness. It has long been established that physical features, such as spatial location or object appearance, can guide attentional selection in a spatial task. These researchers will examine the extent to which attention can be inadvertently grabbed by a visual item that is irrelevant to the spatial-orienting task at hand if that item happens to be semantically related to something recently experienced. The research team will investigate hypotheses regarding the underlying mechanism by which this type of attentional intrusion occurs during the process of trying to visually locate something. To further understanding of the basic mechanism, the research team will also use neuroimaging to examine at what neural stage in the visual system this intrusion effect takes place. Understanding what grabs visual attention and why could have important practical applications, such as better designing dynamic, interactive visual displays on devices such as tablets, smart phones, or computers. The proposed research project aims to test a set of novel predictions regarding the influence of high-level properties of a scene to attentional selection. A major goal is to rigorously test the hypothesis that task-irrelevant semantic information constrains attentional selection by directly acting on space- and object-based representations: task-irrelevant objects that semantically relate to something seen recently are more likely to be attended. Predictions will be tested using real-world scenes, and by utilizing real-world objects. In addition to the rigorous behavioral experiments aimed at understanding the mechanism by which task-irrelevant but semantically primed stimuli exert their intrusive effects on attention, the researchers will use neuroimaging methodology to examine hypotheses regarding at what stage in the human visual system the effects occur.